December 27 The Waymo robot and a Service robots. A roadside delivery robot has reportedly crashed at a Los Angeles intersection. Video It's going viral on social media.
The footage shows the Serve bot crossing a street in West Hollywood at night and trying to get on the sidewalk. It reached the barrier, backed up a bit to right itself, and started toward the ramp. That's when Waymo hit the bot on a right turn.
The person who posted the video said the Serve bot ran a red light before hitting the vehicle, although that's not clear from the footage.
A Reddit user commented on the video, “Waymo computers: 'Doesn't appear to be human or animal.' 'I can't find a way of life' BAM!”
That comment may be gratuitous, but the sentiment isn't exactly wrong.
When TechCrunch asked Waymo if the robot saw the bot, A spokesperson said the robot delivered by the Waymo Driver system is an inanimate object. Driver is designed to be a cautious, defensive driver that prioritizes the safest driving path with the information available at a given moment. A road user's ability to distinguish between different types of objects informs his behavior around them. For example, The driver is programmed to be more careful around children and pedestrians.
That doesn't mean Waymo's Driver will bulldoze inanimate objects. In this case, As the Waymo robot enters the intersection, the delivery robot pauses at the barrier before driving into the turn lane as the Waymo robot enters the intersection. At that point, the Waymo driver applied hard brakes and was making the delivery at 4 mph before making contact with the delivery robot, a Waymo spokesperson said.
Neither AV was damaged, and they locked for a minute before the two went their separate ways. But with more and more vehicles driving on public roads, the question arises: what happens when they collide? How do companies decide which robots to use? So which company is responsible for the damage?
Based on previous data Waymo provided TechCrunch, Waymo Driver notifies the company's Fleet Response and Rider Support teams when a crash occurs. The Fleet Response team remotely inspects the scene and dispatches a roadside assistance representative if necessary. The Rider Support team checks the status of riders and contacts first responders if appropriate.
In this example, There are no passengers inside the robot. It's unclear whether the Fleet Response team was alerted to this crash or whether a Waymo robot or Serve bot was required to remove people remotely.
A Serve spokesperson told TechCrunch that this was the first instance of a collision with its botaxi, and confirmed that the bot was under remote supervisor control at the time of the incident, as it is still part of Serve's playbook for crossing intersections.
TechCrunch was unable to obtain more concrete answers from Waymo or provide specifics regarding liability in future events that may cause further damage. Spokespeople for both companies confirmed that they were being contacted to avoid similar issues in the future.